NMSU basketball player Watson accused of brutally beating man at party

LAS CRUCES — Enraged by the apparent sight of a stranger dancing with his girlfriend at a weekend house party, New Mexico State University basketball player Tyrone Watson picked up the man, another college student, then viciously punched him in the face, multiple witnesses said.

Wednesday, the injured man told the Sun-News he has decided to press charges.

The incident remains under investigation, a Las Cruces Police spokesman said. Several witnesses said Wednesday that they had upcoming appointments to speak with an LCPD detective.

An NMSU athletics spokesman Wednesday said Watson, a fifth-year senior forward who has started every game this season, is with the team traveling to Texas for a pair of conference games later this week. Watson was unavailable for comment. He has not been charged in connection to the incident. It's unclear if Watson will play this week.

Early Saturday morning, Las Cruces Police encountered 19-year-old Miguel Rascon at Memorial Medical Center, according to an incident report. Rascon was receiving treatment for injuries —three facial fractures, a gash requiring 13 stitches and other cuts and bruises, Rascon said — suffered during a party on the 1000 block of Maple Street.

Rascon told police Saturday that he did not want to pursue charges against Watson.

"I guess I wasn't thinking right," Rascon said Wednesday from is mother's home in El Paso, where he is recovering.

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Rascon, who doesn't remember much of the attack, said he went to the party based on a text message he had received.

"It was packed," he said.

Rascon said an acquaintance at the party asked him to stand behind her, so that nobody would ask her to dance. The woman, another NMSU student, described she and Watson on Wednesday as "a couple."

She and Rascon both said they weren't dancing together.

"I barely know how to dance," Rascon said.

The woman, who said she is dating Watson, told the Sun-News that the two had been bickering last week, though it was "nothing major." They went separately to the party.

She added that she "never introduced" Watson to Rascon.

"I usually do (introduce Watson) to my guy friends," she said.

Stephanie Campos, a friend of Rascon and the woman, said Watson thought Rascon was "trying to get with his girl.

"He wasn't."

That, witnesses say, is when Watson stormed across the living room to Rascon, plucked him up by the neck, then punched him in the face.

"He came out of nowhere," Campos said.

Watson, who is listed at 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, is known on the basketball court for his strength.

Rascon said he is "about 5-10" and 140 pounds.

Said Watson's girlfriend: "He just blew up, I guess."

While there is little question about the degree of Rascon's injuries — he may need surgery to repair a broken sinus and his aunt said he has trouble breathing — the account of how those injuries occurred is cloudy. Witnesses that spoke with the Sun-News gave differing accounts.

Manuel Rodriguez, a friend of Rascon's, said Watson slammed Rascon against an interior wall then knocked him out with the left-handed punch. While Rascon was unconscious on the floor, Rodriguez said, Watson "stomped" Rascon's face.

Rodriguez, who said he did not know Watson nor recognize him as a basketball player, called the attack brutal.

"Very inhumane," he said.

Campos said that after Rascon blacked out, he "fell on his face."

Watson's girlfriend said he couldn't have stepped on Rascon's face because other partygoers immediately pulled Watson off Rascon.

She said she was shocked to see Rascon's graphic injuries, and on the way to the hospital with Rascon called Watson, saying, "How could you do this?"

But based on what she saw and conversations with Watson, she contends that others at the party also beat Rascon. She said that happened while he was on the ground, and after she and Watson were ushered outside.

"A lot of people didn't see the whole thing," she said.

One thing that Campos saw sticks in her mind: While Rascon lied on the ground, Watson stood over him, laughing, Campos said.

"I personally confronted him," Campos said. "I asked him, 'How can you do that to someone?'"

It doesn't surprise her, she said, because Watson has a reputation for getting into fights. Watson has no previous convictions listed on the New Mexico courts website.

That's not the Watson that his girlfriend knows.

She said that in later conversation, Watson admitted to punching Rascon once, and that he knows it was wrong.

"I've never seen him act that way before," said the girlfriend, who has received harassing text messages from outsiders in the wake of the incident. "He's never shown a side of jealousy, never even raised his tone at me. He's genuinely a nice person."

Aggie basketball coach Marvin Menzies declined to comment Wednesday.

On Tuesday during a news conference, Menzies said he was aware of the incident.

"We are fact finding at the administration level right now," he said.

When reached for comment late Wednesday, NMSU athletics director McKinley Boston said Watson's fate, at this point, would be determined by Menzies.

"The policy at the moment is that coach Menzies has a relationship with his player and will make a determination to play Tyrone or suspend Tyrone," Boston said. "Without charges against Tyrone, it's a violation of team policy."

Boston added that Watson has been cooperative with the investigation.

"At this point (Watson) is remorseful and he acknowledged that he made an emotional, bad decision," Boston said.

To that end, Rascon said Watson's girlfriend texted him, writing that Watson wanted to apologize.

Rascon said he didn't respond. He doesn't want to speak with Watson.

He just hopes to return to class next week.

— Jason Groves contributed to this report.

James Staley may be reached at 575-541-5476. Follow him on Twitter @auguststaley